TOWN AND COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 135, 3 March 1922, Page 3

TOWN AND COUNTRY

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES.

Of 45 land agents who were licensed in Hastings in 1921 only 21 have renewed their licenses this year. The Southland office of the Tourist Department has received advice of the closing of the Milford Ttack on March 9, which is about six weeks earlier than the usual closing date. “Some peoplp say to-day that Eketahuna has not gone ahead,” said a member of the local Chamber of Commerce at a recent meeting, “but if it had not been for the old Progress Association and the chamber' Eketahuna would not bo where it is to-day. It has had a rocky spin on account of the difficulty of creating community of interest.’*

A rather Rood story comes from Hokitika anont the recent race meeting there, relates the Dunedin “Star.” It appears that a wellknown North Island sprinter who competed at the meeting there was thought to bo so good that the owners and their friends had a substantial punt on him. The race was run, and to their great surprise the gelding ran like, an absolute duffer on the first day; and on the second' day his party were so disgusted that he was allowed to start practically unbacked, and he duly won with the greatest ease. The owners then instituted inquiries, and they found out that, while the horse was in a paddock previous to the .first day’s races, some youngsters, thinking it .a shame to see a horse in a place in which there was no feed, in their goodness of heart supplied the animal with several sackfulls of thistles, and the horse performed as might have been expected on the first occasion. What the owners said when they found out has not yet appeared in print.

A Wanganui rat last Friday took up his position on a show case in a jeweller’s window, and for a while the public paid more attention to him than to the glittering array in the window’ (states the “Chronicle”). The borough’s expert rat-catcher was on business somewhere else, and did not get the message till too late.

That adversity has overtaken the farmer with beef cattle on his hands was illustrated very pointedly at the Levin stock sale on Friday, when eight prime fat bullocks that would have a dead weight of at least 8(X)lb. each were offered and elicited a bid of £7 2s. 6d. per head and no further. The owner s reserve price of £8 ss. was “too hot. as one buyer for a butchering firm expressed it. “To sell them nt -,725. fid would mean a loss to me of £/2, said the owner. “I would rather sec them die in the paddock and lose the lot.”

It is stated that from indents received of dairy factor}' requirements for the coming season that there is a. drop of fully 50 per cent, in manv requisites (states the “Taranaki Daily News ). This is good news, and should enable factory to bring down the cost of manufacture of cheese and bptter to a considerable extent, and thus help to neutralise the fall in prices of both these articles from what it has been during the past few seasons. A 42 per cent, reduction in the price of various grass seeds is also reported, and this will be of material assistance to the farmer; whilst if artificial manures, such as slag, could be brought down to somewhat of a pro-war level, another heavy burden would be removed, as it is an absolute impossibility to continue the maximum production without assisting the soil liberally in the matte: of top-dressing and the growth or artificial feed. The question of dealing with Natives was being discussed in the New 1 Jymouth Supreme Court (reports the “News”), when Mr. Justice Chapman made some observations as to his experiences of such cases. Much was heard, he said, of the Europeans getting the best of the deals, but he had known cases in.which the Native had “taken in” the European handsomely. In Auckland he found, an instance in which one old gentleman had sold his land three separate times to different owners. On Tuesday last (states the Levin “Chronicle”) a message.came through advising the police to meet the b o’clock train, as someone had fired a bullet through one of the carriages. The nolice, on investigating, found a clean-cut hole in the window and a dent on the wall opposite, also a stone in the carriage. It seems that a- boy in the vicinity of Tokomnru threw a stone at the passing train. Luckily no one was injured. The old line, "So near and yet so far,” is brought to mind by the portion of H.M.S. Chatham on her visit to New Plymouth, which expired at o o’clock last Tuesday. Owing to the weather and the lack of a berth none of the officers or crew have- been given shore leave since the cruiser arrived at the anchorage on Sunday afternoon, and but a handful of people from the shore have been able to go on board. This (states an exchange) has been a great disappointment both to the people of the town and province and to the naval men. It is no wonder that the Mayor of Wellington is aghast on realising what is liable to happen to local bodies under section 119 of the Public Works Act (remarks the W’airarapa “Age”). Under this authority the city of Wellington has just been called upon to pay something towards the cost of a bridge 25 miles away and under a distant jurisdiction. Encouraged by this, yet another local authority is beginning to take tallies of traffic in a most ominous way with a view to asking Wellington to nay something towards the cost of the Day’s Bay Road. It is only a matter of time when the Masterton County Council will be called on to pay a moiety towards the upkeep of the bridges over the Wanganui and the Waikato Bivers on the "round that Masterton motors are passing over them on the way to New Plymouth or that a Mnstertonowned racehorse has been carried over to run at Ifawera. This is ridiculous, but it is the natural outcome of having no national roads policy such as the Highways Bill was devised to create. A number of Southland mines have been opened up within the past year or two, and their owners are making a strong bid against the Otago coals for the Dunedin and suburban trade (states the Otago “Daily Times”). The position has now reached the stage whore some of the Otago and Southland mines are unable to keep their men working full time. Work at the Shag Point mine is proceeding steadily, and between 30 and 35 men are now employed there. Lively doings are reported to have taken place in Stratford as the result of a controversy between the local Eire Brigade and Councillor C. Jackson, which has existed since a fire at the Borough Council yards in January last. 'Hie incident was alleged to have taken place at the fire during the heat of the fire-fighting. Tim fire brigade accused Councillor Jackson, among other things, of calling Superintendent Grubb tl little insi/nifieant, under-grown

pup.” Councillor Jackson, in return, charged the brigade with inefficiency, and as an outcome the Borough Council held a court of inquiry, finding. “(1) That the council is of opinion that Councillor Jackson did say the words complained of, or words to the same effect, but owing to the excitement, the council is satisfied that he has no recollections of the occurrence. So far as an apology is concerned, the council is of opinion that this is a matter entirely between Councillor Jackson cfnd Superintendent Grubb. (2) The council is satisfied that the charge against the brigade of inefficiency was not sustained, and is satisfied the brigade did all in its power to extinguish the fire.”

A witness in a land case in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth expressed the opinion that this season would return about Is. sd. per lb. but-ter-fat for dairy farmers. Challenged by one of the counsel engaged in the case on the ground that the estimate was rather optimistic, the witness still maintained that he thought the figure would be about right.

An interesting exhibit which was placed on. view at the meeting of the Christchurch Gardening Club on Friday evening consisted of a number of black and yellow plums grown on the same tree. The chairman (Mr. F. S. Hollingsworth), who stated that the tree was between 40 and 50 years old, added that the black plums were of the Black Diamond variety. He described the phenomenon as a “sport” in the tree, and said that, while this kind of thing happened fairly frequently among flowers, it was not a common occurrence in respect to fruit trees.

The hulk Ocean Banger started leaking on Tuesday morning at Port Chalmers, and as some difficulty was experienced in dealing with the inflow of water to the hold, the services of the salvatre tug Dunedin were" requisitioned, states the Dunedin “Star.” Prior to her joining the hulk fleet at Port Chalmers a few years ago, the barouentine Ocean Bangor was one of the best known coastal craft in the Dominion. She also made trips to Australia and elsewhere, but towards the close of her career as a carrier her operations wore almost whollv coastal. Many tales are told of the Ocean Ranger’s seagoing experiences, including a very stormy and protracted trip from Grevmouth to Lvttelton, when she reached her destination with her sails blown away, save for those portions which were tied down with reef points, the bursting having taken place while the vessel was battling against big odds close reefed.

The Department oF Industries and Commerce has made exhaustive inquiries into the question of mill' prices in Christchurch, and has found that there is considerable competition b" milk producers. Their prices’ differ as much as 3d. per gallon in many instances. Retail dairymen ore, in some cases, charging as low as 4d. per quart, and in a great many instances are retailing at sd. per quart. At the present time, in consequence of the relatively low returns for butter-fat. factory suppliers are tempted to divert their milk for the purpose of the. town supply. In view of the ’ freedom of competition that exists at the present time, the Department does not consider that restrictive intervention is warrantedIt lias received an assurance from many of the vendors that the price during the coming winter will not exceed Gd. per quart.

During last month there were 139 births in the Dnimflin aistriet, ns compared with 109 for the'eorre qnonding month of Inst year. The death" numbered 57, as compared with 46 last February, and the marriages 56 as compared with 64.

“Labour hath its reward,” remarks the Nightcaps correspondent of the “Otautau Standard.” That good money was being earned at Wairaki by free labourers during the recent strike is sho/wn by the fact that something like half a. dozen motorcars have arrived, or are about to arrive, for persons who toiled—while others waited unsuccessfully for something better.

It is anticipated that the total shipment of butter from the Auckland Province this season will reach 1,000,000 boxes, as the export figures compiled by the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company already exceed the total of last season’s record output (states the “Herald”). Hie favourable climatic conditions have resulted in a good supply of feed, and the output will constitute a record for butter, although cheese has so far decreased somewhat.

Dr. P. C. Fenwick has made a complaint 1o the North Canterbury Hospital Board about the use proposed to be made of a sum of £3OO bequeathed to tho board by a lady for the benefit of disabled soldiers, lie had looked forward, he said, to buying a motor-car with the money, but now he found that the men were to receive only the interest, £l2 10s. a year. Ho thought that this was “a bit thick.” In some years’ time there would be no soldiers to benefit. The money was wanted now.

An unusual case came before His Honour Mr. Justice Sim in the Supreme Court at Dunedin in the form of a summons calling on a bankrupt, Edwin Gretton Mackenzie, salesman, to show why he should not be committed for contempt of court in nor attending a meeting of his creditors summoned by tho Official Assignee. The bankrupt said that at the time of tho meeting he was aslecji. He had been up all night attending to his child, and fell off tn sleep in the morning. Tlis Honour said that bankrupt could have seen the. Assignee later. Mr. IV. L. Moore (for tho Assignee) said that the Assignee had had no explanation from bankrupt. 'lllis was the first time he had seen him. His Honour said bankrupt had committed contempt of court, and was liable to be imprisoned for six months or to pay a fine of £5O. .He would be fined £lO, and if the amount was not paid he would be sent to gaol for three months. The recent warm weather in Christchurch reached its culminating point on Tuesday, when 87.6 degrees were registered in the shade, this being the highest tertipcrature recorded this summer, states the “Press.” The excessive heat caused much discomfort to people in the city, and many who could spare the time to do so were glad to seek the. shelter of the trees along the banks of the Avon, and in the Botanic Gardens, a large number also finding relief in the surf at the beaches. Fortunately, although tho wind was from the nor’west, there was comparatively little dust blowing through the streets. There was a great demand for cordials and ices and in many refreshment rooms the latter were unobtainable towards evening. The hottest day ever recorded in Christchurch was on January 24, 1871. when the temperature was 95.7 in the shade.